1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing foodstuffs such as sausages, cheeses, and mentaiko (seasoned and salted walleye pollack roe) by sealing a fixed amount of a raw material into a casing and by twisting the casing stuffed with the material to form a chain of linked products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional apparatuses of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,509, Japanese Patent Publication No. 353/1966, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 33916/1971, Japanese Patent Publication No. 13329/1989 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,796), Japanese Patent Publication No. 58696/1991 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,402), Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Nos. 117475/1991, 28081/1992, and 68683/1992, U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,885, Japanese Patent Publication No. 50294/1984 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,505), and so on.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,509 is arranged such that during the process of forming a twisted portion of a sausage, a holding member holds an outer peripheral portion of a stuffed casing drawn out from a nozzle. According to this apparatus, a twist can take place at any position between a tip of the nozzle and a holding position, with the result that the twisting position can possibly vary. In addition, although a deflecting member of this apparatus is so arranged as to cause the stuffed casing to be directed downward during the process of forming a twisted portion, there are problems in that this deflection member hampers the advance of the stuffed casing during a stuffing process, and that breakage is liable to occur in the stuffed casing.
In addition, deflection rollers of the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 353/1966 also have similar problems to those of the aforementioned deflecting member, and are not necessarily satisfactory.
With the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 33916/1971, the stuffed casing is held by a hook and a roller during the process of forming a twisted portion of a sausage so as to stop the rotation of the stuffed casing. With this apparatus as well, a twist can take place at any position between the tip of the nozzle and the holding position in the same way as the apparatus disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,509, with the result that the twisting position can possibly vary.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Publication No. 58696/1991 discloses an apparatus in which, constantly during the stuffing process, a pushing member is continuously pushed against an intestinal tract by a pneumatic cylinder, and the advancing speed of the pushing member by means of the pneumatic cylinder is controlled by the speed of consumption of a shirred portion of the intestinal tract. According to this apparatus, since the working pressure of the pneumatic cylinder constantly acts on the intestinal tract and excessively compresses the shirred portion, there is a possibility of the casing becoming difficult to be drawn out from the nozzle.
In addition, with the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 117475/1991, an intestine feeding collar, which advances by being pushed by a spring member, constantly pushes the intestine. With such an arrangement, there is a risk of the spring pressure of the spring member excessively compressing the shirred portion.
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 28081/1992 discloses an apparatus in which a bellows is extended by air sent in intermittently. According to this apparatus, since the extending system is based on pneumatic pressure, it is difficult to control the position and speed of the operation of extending the bellows as desired. Hence, it is difficult to push the intestine at a rate commensurate with the amount of consumption of a sheep intestine by the intestine feeding collar.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,885 is arranged such that the casing stuffed with a material is pulled out of the nozzle by a transport conveyor in synchronism with stuffing and twisting cycles of a stuffing machine. Hence, with this apparatus, it is difficult to maintain a fixed twisting position of the stuffed casing. Therefore, the length between the twisted positions (link length) is liable to vary, so that this apparatus is not suitable to connection to a looping apparatus which is operated in synchronism with a fixed-amount stuffing machine.
With the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50294/1984, since the outside diameter of the sheep intestine is not uniform, it is difficult to make uniform each link length which has been stuffed in a fixed amount and twisted. In addition, the position where the twist takes place is difficult to fix, so that there is the likelihood that the tendency toward the nonuniformity of each link length is further increased. In addition, this apparatus is arranged such that the twisted portion is retained in the vicinity of the nozzle, but since there is a possibility of the variation of the link length becoming large, this apparatus is not suitable for retention of twisted portions on a stable and reliable basis.
With the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50294/1984, there are cases where the value of sliding resistance at the time of the drawing out of the casing from the nozzle varies. Accordingly, since the link length in the case of the sheep intestine, in particular, is determined by the value of sliding resistance at the time of the drawing out of the sheep intestine from the nozzle, there is a likelihood that the nonuniformity of each link length is further increased. As such, with this apparatus, since there is the possibility that the link length varies, the reliable retention of the twisted portions can possibly become difficult.